Recently, according to the development of a digital image pickup device, a mobile telephone, computer technology, the Internet, electronic mail and others, the exchange and the distribution of a digital image have been simplified and have been widely utilized. As well known, a digital image photographed by a digital image pickup device can be shared on the Internet utilizing a personal computer and others and can be browsed by anybody only if he/she connects his/her personal computer to the Internet.
A digital image pickup function of one million pixels or more is often mounted in a mobile telephone. A photographed digital image can be transmitted with the digital image attached to electronic mail as it is as image data and a person who receives the electronic mail with the photographed digital image can browse the digital image. A digital image photographed by a digital image pickup device and a mobile telephone in which its function is mounted not only can be browsed by a family and friends but can be shared among users of the Internet without limitation, and has an advantage that the digital image can be simply browsed. A digital image also has an advantage that it can be simply edited. As described above, a digital image has many advantages that the photography, the sharing and the edition are simple. However, it also has the following problems.
For example, in a museum and a concert hall, there is a problem that photography is simply enabled using a digital image pickup device and a mobile telephone provided with its function even if photography is prohibited in the location. There is also a problem that the photography of an image related to the privacy of an individual is not limited and a portrait right and copyrights are not protected at all. A crime such as taking a snapshot stealthily and a problem that a snapshot of another person is edited without notice and is distributed to the public are also increasing. The solution of these problems is currently left to the morals of individuals or only means such as check by a person disclosed in JP-A-2000-341634 is adopted.